Termite shield



March 14, 1939., V J. 5. TENNISON 2,150,891

TEHMITE SHIELD Fi led June 24, 1938 Patented Mar. 1d, 1939 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

This invention relates to building construction and more particularly totermite shields incorporated in buildings constructed at least partly ofwood or material similarly susceptible to termites.

Prior to my invention various expedients have been resorted to in orderto prevent disintegration of wooden portions of a building whichdisintegration may be caused by termites. Buildings which areparticularly susceptible to destruction by termites are those having nocellars with wooden portions directly contacting the ground. Treatingthe wood with certain poisons has been found to alleviate the situationsomewhat; however, in time even the wood so treated will be destroyedshould'termites be present. It has further been proposed that masonryfoundations be utilized and the wooden floor rafters be supported atquite some distance above the ground, say 18 inches to three feet. Whiletermites do not fly, yet they can reach wooden portions of a building byclimbing up the sides of a concrete wall and proceed to destroy woodenelements such as floor joists.

After some experimentation it has been found that if the wooden elementsare kept above the ground a distance of more than twelve inches, sayeighteen inches, the termites cannot travel directly from the ground tothese wooden elements. In order to prevent the termites from reachingthe wooden elements via the masonry foundation, metal bafiles have beendesigned which are effective in preventing the termites from reachingthe wooden elements supported above these baiiles. The generallyaccepted bafile comprises preferably a metallic sheet having corrosionresisting properties which projects horizontally at least two inchesfrom a side of a vertical foundation wall and then is bent at afortyfive degree angle downwardly, the bent portion projectingapproximately two inches.

As foundation walls for dwellings are usually of greater running lengththan standard size metal sheets, tight joints are necessary betweenunits of termite shield material. It has been proposed that these jointsbe affected by soldering, which is a relatively costly process.

It is an object of my invention to prove termite shields of simpledesign which may be readily fabricated en masse and which are effectivein bafiling the travel of termites.

It is a further object of the invention to provide sectional termiteshields which permit of ready assembly.

Other objects and the nature and advantages of the invention will beapparent from the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing, wherein? Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of thesimplest form of termite shield giving protection on but one side of afoundation wall;

Fig. 2 is a view in perspective of a termite shield giving protection onthe inside and outside of a foundation wall;

Fig. 3 is a view in perspective of a unitary termite shield forprotecting a pier;

Fg. 4 is a view in perspective of a sectional termite shield for use atthe corner of a foundation and giving protection on but the inside wallthereof;

Fig. 5 is a sectional termite shield for use in connection with thoseportion of foundation walls which involve a T-junction;

Fig. 6 is a view in perspective of a sectional termite shield to be usedat the corner of a foundation;

Fig. '7 is a sectional view of a foundation wall with the termiteproofing in place:

Fig. 8 is a sectional view illustrating a tight joint efle'cted by theends of two sectional shields;

Fig. 8a isa sectional view of a tight joint involving two sectionalshields and a connector.

Fig. 9 is a view in perspective of a sheld connector;

Fig. 9a is a view in perspective of a modified form of connector;

Fig. 9b is a fragmentary sectional view similar to Figs. 8 and 8a of theconnector illustrated in Fig. 9 and a pair of sheet metal termite shieldsections associated therewith; and

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a sectional termite shield for use inconnection with a foundation wall having a projecting portion.

Referring to Fig. 1, the termite shield comprises a'horizontal portion2i and a bent baffle portion 22 formed integral therewith. Thisarrangement permits of ready fabrication in a simple stamping machineand will prevent the travel of termites vertically when this bafile isproperly applied to the foundation wall as illustrated in Fig. 7 forexample. The termite shield 20 is arranged to give protection either onthe inside of the foundation wall or on the outside of thefoundationwall depending on which side the bent portion 22 projects. If itprojects on the inside of the foundation wall, it will give protectionon that side and vice versa. Protection is most necessary on the insideof the foundation wall for this side is generally inaccessible and thefirst warning that termites are attacking the wooden elements of thebuilding is usually received too late: that is, when these woodenelements have been so eaten away that they no longer eflect the propersupport. The outside foundation wall is usually capable of periodicobservation and any termite action may soon be disrupted. However. forbest protection, a termite shield as illustrated in Fig. 2 should beused.

' The termite shield 80. illustrated in Fig. 2, comprises a horizontalportion 3| and two bent baiiie portions 32 which are at an angle offortyilve degrees from a projection of the horizontal portion. With thebaille plate 30 in place as illustrated in Fig. 7 the horizontal portionIi should project from the foundation wall 33, a distance of at leasttwo inches, and the bent portion 52 should project angularly at least adistance of two inches to eflect the proper baililng action, wherebytermites may not travel from the ground 34 to the wooden joists 35.

The shield 40 illustrated in Fig. 3 is a complete unit for use inconnection with supporting piers or the like and comprises a horizontalportion 4i, and angular portions 42 with corner portions 43 formed asshown to reinforce and take up the material when it is fabricated.

The'termite shield 5| illustrated in Fig. 4 comprises a horizontalportion 5i, bent portions 52 and end portions 53 so formedas to permitready assembly with similar sectional shields for eliminating thenecessity for soldering or otherwise effecting the proper joint betweensections of shields. The precise configuration of the end portion 53 isillustrated in Fig. 8 and will be later explained in more detail.

Referring to Fig. 5 a termite shield sectional unit 50 is generallyT-shaped to correspond with the configuration of certain portions offoundation walls and comprises a horizontal portion 6|, bent portions52, and end portions 63 similar to the end portions 52 in Fig. 4 and aredesigned to interlock as will be later described.

The shield Ill illustrated in Fig. 6 is to be utilized in connectionwith corners formed by foundation walls and comprises a horizontalportion ll, bent portions 12, corner portions 13 similar to the cornerportions 45 illustrated in Fig. 3 and end portions ll similar in thoseillustrated in Figs. 4 and 5.. V

The shield 00 illustrated in Fig. 10 comprises a T-shaped horizontalportion 8!, angularly disposed bent portions corner portions 85 similarto the comer portions 13 in Fig. 6, and end portions 8| similar to thoseillustrated in Figs. 4, 5 and 6. This shield section 80 is to beutilized along a run of foundation wall having a slight projectingportion corresponding with the leg Bio of the horizontal portion II.

In Fig. 8 a pair of sectional units 90 having end portions 9i which aresimilar to the end portions 53, 53, I4 and ll are shown in interlockingposition to eifect a tight joint such as is necessary to preventtermites from passing therethrough. The end portions M are generally 8-shaped, the legs 2 of the lower portion of the 8 almost contacting eachother as shown, whereby the necessary tight joint is eflected. When oneunit 'is slipped into the other a clamping action takes place which maybe more pronounced when a load is applied thereabove such as for exampleadditional foundation wall or other building elements.

When the termite shields take the form illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, theconnecting unit such asillustratedinl'igs.9and9amaybeusedin conjunctiontherewith. In Fig. 9 a connector I00 involving an S-shaped sectionisillustrated on en Two sectional termite shields 20 such as is ill ratedin Fig. 1 may be utilized in connection therewith, one shield beinginserted into the U-shaped portion m and the other into the U-shapedportion I02 of the connector whereby a relatively long continuous shieldis eifected having a tight joint. In Fig. 9a another form of connectorno is similarly illustrated and is adapted to receive sectional shieldswithin the U-shaped portions l l I as illustrated in section in Fig. 8a.In this case the joint effected in the arrangement illustrated in Fig.811 by the connector llil will similarly be tight as a similar clampingoccurs which is increased by any load imposed on the shields as is moreor less inevitable in conventional building construction as alreadyexplained.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes maybe made in this device without departing from the spirit of theinvention and therefore the invention is not limited to what is shown inthe drawings and described in the specification but only as indicated inthe appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a built-up termite shield, a plurality oi! sheet metal sectionseach having a generally horizontal planular area and a downwardly bentarea extending from said first area, said sections having interlockingmale and female portions, said male and female portions being formed toresiliently interlock when the sections are assembled, said femaleportion resiliently engaging said male portion on at least two sides andco-extensively throughout the generally planular area and the downwardlybent area, said male and female portions arranged to readily slidablyengage each other continuously and transversely of said generallyplanular area and said downwardly bent area to form a termite-proofjoint, whereby a built-up termite shield of relatively great length maybe rapidly evolved on location without the use of special tools,equipment, or other materials.

2. In a built-up termite shield, a plurality of sheet metal sectionseach having a generally horizontal planular area and a downwardly bentarea extending from said first area, said sections having interlockingmale and female portions each comprising 8 formations in cross sectionwith the bottommost generally horizontal portion of the 8 ofsubstantially greater length than normal, said male and female portionsbeing formed to resiliently inter ock when the sections are assembledwith the bottommost portion of the S shaped cross section of one sheetmetal section inserted above the corresponding bottommost portion of theS shaped cross section of the adjacent sheet metal section andunderneath the central portion of the S shaped section of the saidlatter sheet metal sections to form a resilient interlock with saidfemale portion resiliently engaging said male portion on two sides and.co-extensively throughout the generally planular area and the downwardlybent area, said male and female portions arranged to readily slidablyengage each other continuously and transversely of said generallyplanular area and said downwardly bent area to form a termite-proofshield of relatively great length may be rapidly evolved on locationwithout the use of special tools, equipment, or other materials.

3. In a built-up termite shield, two sheet metal sections each having agenerally horizontal planular area and a downwardly bent area extendingfrom said first area, a connector for said sheet metal sections havingoppositely disposed resilient female engaging portions located in thesame general plane on each side which extend co-extensively andtransversely of said generally horizontal planular area and downwardlybent area of each of said sheet metal sections, the female portionsresiliently engaging the ends of said sheet metal sectionsco-extensively throughout the generally planular area and the downwardlybent area of each, said sheet metal section ends and said femaleportions arranged to slidably engage each other continuously andtransversely of said generally planular area and said downwardly bentarea to form a termite-proof joint, whereby a built-up termite shield ofrelatively great length may be rapidly evolved on location without theuse of special tools, equipment, or

sections each having a generally horizontal planular area and adownwardly bent area extending from said first area, a connector havinga generally S shaped cross section for said sheet metal sections havingoppositely disposed vertically superimposed resilient female engagingportions extending co-extensively and transversely of said generallyhorizontal planular area and downwardly bent area of each of said sheetmetal sections, the female portions resiliently engaging the ends ofsaid sheet metal sections co-extensively throughout the generallyplanular area and the downwardly bent area oi. each, said sheet metalsection ends and said'female portions arranged to slidably engage eachother continuously and transversely of said generally planular area andsaid downwardly bent area to form a termiteproof joint, whereby abuilt-up termite shield of relatively great length may be rapidlyevolved on location without the use of special tools, equipment, orother materials.

JAMES D. TENNISON.

